Luk Siu Fung vs. Fok Teen Ching

[Ken Cheng]

Probably the most anticipated battle that never happened in LUK SIU FUNG, Book 1 (THE GOLDEN ROC KINGDOM'S TREASURE), other than that *other* most anticipated battle that also never happened (i.e. Luk Siu Fung vs. Sai Mun Chui Sheut), was Luk Siu Fung vs. Fok Teen Ching (Chief of the Sky Lyre Union). Until just before the end of the novel, Luk Siu Fung (and probably many readers) believed that Fok Teen Ching was the real culprit behind the Green Shirts Pavilion. Many were expecting a violent showdown between Luk and Fok. There were two opportunities for them to fight: the first was aborted by Luk Siu Fung himself, who did not want to offend his good friend San Sai Ngan (Hero of Kwan Tsung), the apprentice nephew of Fok Teen Ching. The second fight was also aborted because Fok Teen Ching was murdered by the *real* culprit of Book 1: Fok Yau.

But how would the fight have gone down? Luk Siu Fung probably would have ultimately won because 1). he's the main character and 2). he would have outwitted and outmaneuvered Fok Teen Ching. But could Luk Siu Fung hoped to have matched Fok Teen Ching in a straight martial arts battle? Luk Siu Fung estimated that Ngor Mei Sect's Leader, Dook Goo 1 Hok, could have killed him (Luk) with his Sabre-Sword Combination Onslaught; Luk Siu Fung also worried about Sai Mun Chui Sheut because he very much doubted that Sai Mun Chui Sheut could defeat Dook Goo 1 Hok. As it was, Sai Mun Chui Sheut barely edged out Dook Goo 1 Hok because DG had just had his inner power drained by Fok Teen Ching. Dook Goo 1 Hok had been so powerful that Luk Siu Fung thought that neither he nor Sai Mun Chui Sheut could have overcome him, but Fok Teen Ching seemed to very casually drain away all of Dook Goo 1 Hok's inner power, leaving him vulnerable to being killed by Sai Mun Chui Sheut. That suggests that Fok Teen Ching's martial arts were at a higher level than Luk Siu Fung's.

[Ian Liew]

I suspect Huo Tianqing would have won - didn't Huo You mention that Huo was overconfident when he confronted him about Shangguan Feiyan's murder? Huo You probably wasn't a very good fighter, but Huo Tianqing had that "Nothing could possibly hurt me" attitude to him, and of course, forgot about poison. Huo Tianqing probably didn't believe that anybody could possibly beat him in a fight, and given Lu seemed genuinely worried about Huo given his background, Huo was probably justified in thinking so.

[bliss]

I'm not sure you can positively gauge Huo Tianqing's power based on his confrontation with Dugu Yihe. The moves and internal energy Huo Tianqing learned from his father were a direct counter to Dugu Yihe's master, Revered Hu's martial arts. So in a sense, Dugu Yihe had lost before he even fought, because Huo Tianqing already knew the fatal flaws in his technique and how to capitalize on it.

This is similar to the fight between Ren Woxing and Zuo Lengchan. Ren Woxing was obviously much more powerful, but Zuo's Cold Ice Energy was the perfect counter for Ren Woxing's Essence Absorbing Stance.

I'd say that in terms of OVERALL skill, Dugu Yihe was better than Huo Tianqing, Lu Xiaofeng, and Ximen Chuixue. However, that still leaves the question of whether Lu or Huo was stronger unanswered.

[Ken Cheng]

One dozen years later, this question remains no less intriguing...and the answers are no less opaque. I maintain that Luk Siu Fung would have likely won a fight against Fok Teen Ching because Luk seemed less likely to allow emotions to cause him to make critical, foolish mistakes as Fok seemed prone to. Fok Teen Ching's weakness was his overbearing pride and ego, which were weaknesses that Luk Siu Fung did not have. LSF possibly would have exploited these weaknesses in Fok.